Lifting the Hood- The Prisoners of Abu Ghraib is now available on the SBS Dateline website.
The Italian Job is also posted. Guido Olimpio, investigative journalist for Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, recounts how easy it was to track the movements of the CIA agents who kidnapped Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from the streets of Italy in order to send him on to Egypt to be tortured. Italy’s ongoing investigation of the Iman was ruined by the CIA crew.
The relationship between two allies is not the only casualty of this story. Shortly after making those phone calls from Egypt, Abu Omar was rearrested and remains in prison today, still without charge. His lawyer Montasser Al Zayat thinks he was rearrested because he revealed the secrets no-one wanted told.
MONTASSER AL ZAYAT (Translation): What I am sure of is that the Egyptian authorities released him then re-arrested him when he talked to others about his arrest conditions and torture.
Judge Guido Salvini, who recently issued a symbolic arrest warrant for Abu Omar, remains livid. Italy has always “actively participated in the fight against International terrorism. Hence to kidnap a person under investigation by the Italian authorities is without a doubt a somewhat humiliating act.”
In Milan, Prosecutor Armando Spataro is optimistic that since an extradition treaty does exist between the U.S. and Italy, the United States will honour Italy’s request for “the extradition of the 22 CIA agents to stand trial in Italy.”